People - Jul./Apr. 2011

Roger M. Bobb, former supervising producer and executive vice president of Tyler Perry Studios, formed his own film and television production company, Bobbcat Films. His film career began in 1995, when he was accepted into the Directors Guild of America’s Assistant Director Trainee program and worked on hit shows New York Undercover and NYPD Blue. Upon completion of the program, he became a producer. Born in London and raised in Brooklyn, Bobb has worked with Perry since 2005, producing numerous episodes of the television shows Tyler Perry’s House of Payne and Meet the Browns. He served as assistant director on the film Diary of a Mad Black Woman. A 2006 recipient of a Network Journal 40 Under Forty Achievers Award, Bobb attended Brooklyn College and the School of Visual Arts.

Wonya Lucas was named president and CEO at TV One. Previously, she was executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Discovery / Science Channel, charged with overseeing strategy, operations, research and marketing. Prior to that, she was executive vice president and general manager of The Weather Channel Networks and later, executive vice president of strategic marketing at Turner Broadcasting System. In 2010, Lucas made Black Enterprise’s list of the “75 Most Powerful Women in Business” and CableFAX’s list of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Cable.” She began her career as an engineer at Westinghouse Electric Corp. after earning a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology and an M.B.A. in finance and marketing at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Michael B. Moore is the new president and CEO of Glory Foods. Previously, he was a senior consultant to the firm and a member of its board. Moore’s marketing career began with brand management positions at Coca-Cola USA and General Foods USA. After serving as vice president of marketing at apparel company No Fear Inc., he became a consultant to technology firms, consumer brand companies and professional sports leagues, then president and chief marketing officer at Infopop Corp. At Glory, he will focus on co-branding, licensing and strategy; enhanced product innovation; community engagement with consumers; heightened online engagement; and integrated marketing and communications. Moore is a graduate of the Maxwell School of Government at Syracuse University and the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

AOL Advertising named Lateef Sarnor industry practice head, multicultural at Black-Voices.com. He will lead the industry development team in partnering with sales leadership to execute a national multicultural strategy and will work with the teams from BlackVoices.com and AOL Latino to develop ideas and creative solutions for marketers. Before this appointment, Sarnor was director of brand solutions at BET, focusing on branded entertainment and advertising programs across all BET platforms. Prior to that, he was inter-active manager at Black Enterprise, where he worked on content and user strategy for the website and supported ad sales by developing integrated programs for personal finance and small-business clients. He attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J.

Political analyst Jamal Simmons joined the Internet Innovation Alliance, a coalition supporting broadband availability for underserved communities, as co-chairman. Simmons, who was an adviser to the Democratic National Committee for the 2008 Obama campaign and a frequent commentator on CNN and CBS, is currently a principal at The Raben Group, providing communications and strategic counsel to corporate and nonprofit clients. As co-chair at the Alliance, he will help communities of color to adopt broadband capability. A former term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Simmons served as a communications aide to Bill Clinton in 1992 and to Al Gore in 2000. He graduated from Morehouse College, where he received a Presidential Award of Distinction, and earned a Master in Public Policy degree from Harvard University.

Monique Winston was named chairman and chief executive officer at Optima Lender Services L.L.C. A 14-year veteran of the title industry, she recently served as senior vice president and senior underwriting counsel at Stewart Title Guaranty Co., where she provided underwriting assistance to the company’s national agents and worked on new-product development and analysis as well as compliance, policy and procedure. Before that, she worked in a similar capacity as title and closing compliance officer at Lenders Service. A teacher and lecturer, Winston has developed a curriculum of fundamental title/closing courses and workshops. She has a bachelor’s degree in English and a law degree, both from Duquesne University.